Card-plate foe tetjbtks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIOE.

JOS. DUDLEY, OF FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS.

CARD-PLATE FOR TRUNKS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,259, dated May 18, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. DUDLEY, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Device for Securing Address-Cards to Trunks, Designed to be Used Ohiely in Traveling; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in whichd Figure l, is a face view of my improvement with a card inserted in it. Fig. 2, is a longitudinal central section of ditto.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

My invention consists in having a metallic frame provided with a transverse central cross piece, and two transverse end pieces, and using in connection therewith a spring or elastic plate which is placed on the central cross piece, its ends being underneath the end pieces. The whole being so arranged as hereinafter shown and described that the card which is placed on the elastic plate, will have its ends pressed bet-Ween said plate and the transverse end pieces, by which, the card will be firmly secured, the frame being firmly attached to the trunk.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents a metallic frame which may be of cast metal. This frame has a central transverse bar B, attached to its under side, said bar B, at its under side being Hush j with the frame A, as shown in Fig. 2.

Near each end of the frame A, there is a transverse bar C. The under surfaces of these bars are about flush with the upthe end pieces a, of the frame, a narrow space Z), being allowed between them.

D, is a thin metal plate the width of which is equal to that of the interior of the frame, the length being also equal to that of the frame between the inner edges of its end pieces a, a. This plate D, is placed on the cross piece B, and its ends are pressed inward so as to pass underneath the bars C, and the extreme ends are bent outward forming beads or ledges c, that pass up into the spaces Z), and serve as catches or locks, as shown clearly in Fig. 2.

The frame A, is secured to the trunk at any proper or desired part by means of screws a". The bottoms of the end pieces a, a, and transverse bar D, bear against the trunk and the card E, shown in red is placed on the plate D, its ends heilig shoved underneath the bars C, the ends of theplate D, being depressed by the thumb to allow the ends of the card to pass underneath the bars C, the card is held firmly in the frame by the pressure of plate D.

By this improvement a card may be fitted in the frame at any time, the address being changed as often as required by inserting a new card in the frame. The invention will prove valuable to the traveling community as a person may change the card from time to time to correspond with his destination, and trunks will not be liable to be miscarried and lost as is now frequently the case.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The frame A, orovided with transverse bars B, C, C, and an elastic plate D, the frame being secured to the trunk and the whole arranged substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOSEPH DUDLEY. lVitnesses J AMES FORD, JAs. E. WATSON. 

